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USA Luge welcomes new board members

LAKE PLACID — Three new board members and a group of award winners emerged from last Saturday’s meetings of the USA Luge board of directors, followed by its annual membership meeting.

USA Luge President Erin Warren, a two-time Olympian, welcomed Nonie Manion, Scott McIntyre and Bob Hughes to its board of directors.

Manion is the acting commissioner of the New York State Department of Tax and Finance. She was appointed Executive Deputy Commissioner in 2013 before her most recent promotion in September 2016 as Acting Commissioner. Manion has been with the state tax department for more than 30 years. Her innovative approach to tax administration has received national and statewide recognition with awards from the Federation of Tax Administrators and the State Academy for Public Administration.

Two years ago, Manion was awarded the Gov. Hugh L. Carey Award for Outstanding Public Stewardship. She’s a graduate of Siena College and resides in Saratoga County with her husband Roger.

McIntyre, a recognized sales and marketing leader, is the retired Director of Google Cloud where he spent the last nine years. Prior to that, McIntyre was Area Vice President with Oracle for 21 years. In his stint with Google, he developed a vertical retail business that continues to be one of the top producing industries for Google Cloud.

McIntyre has more than 30 years of sales and operations management experience, leading large teams and developing and implementing innovative revenue growth models. He graduated from the University of California at Davis where he was a member of the baseball team. He now trains full time for Ironman triathlons.

“Bullet” Bob Hughes is a former luge and bobsled competitor, who rose through the USA Luge ranks from assistant coach to head coach to 1984 Olympic team manager. Thereafter, Hughes became the team’s longtime marketing director, where he secured a landmark sponsorship with New York Telephone, which became NYNEX, Bell Atlantic and now Verizon. That partnership was the gold standard in all of sports as it lasted some 25 years.

In the late 1990s, Hughes segued into television, starting Carr-Hughes Productions that has grown into a successful national and international production company responsible for 70 events annually. Now semi-retired, Hughes splits his time between North Carolina and the Adirondacks. Bob and his wife, Liz, have been married for 28 years and have two dogs, Seymour and Dezi.

Later in the day, at the membership meeting, USA Luge President and CEO Jim Leahy gave an overview of the organization’s highlights over the past year, and articulated a path for the ensuing three years to the Beijing Winter Games.

The meeting concluded with the annual awards.

Chris Mazdzer, 2018 Olympic silver medalist and the first American man to win a singles medal at the Games, headlined the honors. The three-time Olympian from Saranac Lake was recognized as Male Athlete of the Year.

Two-time Olympian Summer Britcher, who’s five career World Cup singles victories is tops in the team’s annals, was Female Athlete of the Year. Britcher won twice last year and finished third in the World Cup standings.

The Doubles Team of the Year went to Matt Mortensen (now retired) and Jayson Terdiman. The two-time Olympians finished fifth in the World Cup standings.

The Team of the Year went to the Koenigssee, Germany relay team of Britcher, Tucker West, Mortensen and Terdiman. The foursome collaborated for a World Cup silver medal.

The Junior Male Athlete of the Year was shared by the doubles team of Dana Kellogg and Duncan Segger, who produced a Junior World Cup silver medal in Koenigssee.

Brittney Arndt was the Junior Female Athlete of the Year. She was in the mix for the 2018 Olympic team and placed seventh at the 2018 Junior World Championships.

Most Improved Male and Female Athletes of the Year were Matt Greiner and Delaney Duncan, respectively, while Sophia Gordon was the Justin Matarese Award winner. The Matarese Award is issued to a young racer with a never-give-up attitude.

The Sam Venezia Volunteer Spirit Award went to USA Luge media trainer Mark Allen, who travels to Lake Placid annually from his Charlotte, North Carolina home to prepare team athletes in facing the press. Allen has offered his services for 30 years with no compensation.

And Peggy Mousaw took the John Jenkins Sport Passion Award. Mousaw offers her time as a race official and assisting with office operations, also at no compensation.

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